Keith’s note: Tweet from Alicia Brown @AliciaNBrown “Come work with NASA leg affairs! https://usajobs.gov/job/755157700.“ Hilarious. NASA Legislative Affairs wants to hire someone and they open the job application for TWO DAYS. And they are not even trying to hide the quick open and shut nature of the position. Hmm … I’ll bet they already have the person they want and they are just going through the motions – of looking like they are going through the motions – of actually doing a thorough process of looking for applicants. In two days. Oh yes Alicia Brown “.. also has experience advising on policy regarding space programs, national security, and the defense budget as a legislative aide to former Sen. Bill Nelson.”
Biologist, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA Space Biologist and Payload integrator, Editor of NASAWatch.com and Astrobiology.com, Lapsed climber, Explorer, Synaesthete, Former Challenger Center board member... More by Keith Cowing
I work for a government agency (not NASA) and this is done when there is someone internal that they want to promote.
From my experience, NASA almost always has the person they want selected before the job is advertised. Usually they write the advertisement to fit the candidate’s resume. Theyll sometimes abbreviate the application period so that they dont have look at too many resumes.
BTW this is one reason NASA can no longer do the job, especially in human spaceflight and they have to hand it off to ‘commercial’ suppliers. There are so many in NASA today without the credentials, experience or ability.